OFS Station 45 opens bay doors

SOUTH MARCH – Operational since last March, Ottawa firefighters and politicians figuratively cut the ribbon on the city’s newest fire hall Ottawa Fire Services (OFS) Station 45 just last Monday (Oct. 28).

Literally, it was a fire hose.

The OFS’ top brass, politicians and dignitaries including OFS Chief Paul Hutt, deputy mayor Allan Hubley, Coun. Clarke Kelly, Coun. Kathy Curry and Coun. Riley Brockington, to name just a few, got an in-person look at the new composite station that replaces the old building on Cameron Harvey Drive. They posed for a photo and used a pair of extrication tools to cut a length of fire hose to officially open the new hall.

The gleaming new building at 1105 March Rd. dwarfs the old building and will house both full-time and volunteer firefighters.

With three bays, training and fitness rooms, commercial kitchen and dining area, rest areas, equipment rooms, offices, a watch room monitored 24/7, a hose tower expected to be used by six other fire halls in the area (many in West Carleton) and three bays, it is easily the largest fire station serving Ward 5 (no pole though). It will also serve Kanata North and it was built with expansion in mind.

The project dates all the way back to 2015 and an OFS Station Location Study done at the time. The study assessed projected growth, anticipated risks and benefits of the new station being recommended.

The goal is to have 10 “career” firefighters working out of the station as well as a contingent of volunteer firefighters.

The new firehall was a $9.5 million project officially announced in 2020, and hoped to be operational by late 2021 or early 2022, but faced delays mostly due to the COVID pandemic and an explosion in November 2023 at the construction site that left one injured. There were no OFS staff at the site at the time of the construction but they did attend to the incident.

Along with the existing community, the area is expecting roughly 3,500 new residential units to be built over the next 10 years and a population rise of potentially 40,000 people over the next 15 years.

“It’s built for expansion,” OFS District 8 Chief Joseph McLaughlin told West Carleton Online during a tour of the station Monday. “Because this is the way we know the city is expanding.”

OFS Station 45 is not under McLaughlin’s watch. McLaughlin is district chief of fire halls in Corkery (OFS Station 84) and Stittsville. But he did work on the project from its beginning.

He says the facility has the potential to double in size and could add “a specialty rig, like aerial or heavy rescue, and another rig.”

Currently, in terms of rigs, OFS Station 45 houses a pumper, 2,500-gallon pumper/tanker and air tender unit which can also serve as a rehab unit.

“The new station represents a significant enhancement to our community’s emergency response capabilities in Kanata North and South March,” OFS public information officer Nicholas DeFazio said. “With the new station in operation, our community will benefit from quicker response times and more efficient handling of emergencies. The opening of new Fire Station 45 is a positive development for our community’s safety and well-being.”